Crackskull Row

After a successful Off-Off-Broadway run, The Cell's mounting of Honor Molloy's dysfunctional family drama transfers to the Irish Repertory Theatre. More…

In 1999, Rasher Moorigan is finally released from prison after serving time for a monstrous crime he committed more than 30 years earlier. After reuniting with his mother, an old woman haunted by a vanished Dublin, they confront the ghosts of the past and an uncertain future.

"Molloy spins a tale of intrigue and madness as she exposes the underbelly of a complex dysfunctional family...That past is played out brilliantly by the engaging cast who give their multiple characters and their multifarious conflicts authenticity and believability...Under Kira Simring’s direction, 'Crackskull Row' is as good as it gets and it does not get better than this...'Crackskull Row' is not to be missed. Just leave propriety and apprehension behind."
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“Director Kira Simring and her talented cast manage the nifty trick of creating a path of destruction that is both in and out of time…The double casting adds to the mind warp…Ms. Molloy writes with a poetic sensibility, a fondness for puns and an ear for metaphor…Ghosts, when they arrive, tend to show up barefoot (and sometimes, wondrously, from out of the fireplace).”
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"Molloy adds just enough of a narrative bridge, with snippets of poetic narrative, for us to understand how Masher’s deranged emotions effect the personages we see in various scenes...This is above all a dynamic and fascinating tale of a family at its most primitive and self-retributive...The director and design crew’s excellent work conveys the play’s symbolism and themes."
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"Under Simring’s lyrical direction, there is a very Oedipal twang and structure...Molloy plays with flashbacks and memories that start with a stellar performance by Colin Lane as a jailed man looking through the prison bars back into his past...This is a bleak and dark exploration of jealousy, rage, and maternal manipulation...If only there had been less guilt and ghosts on 'Crackskull Row'...all would have turned out quite differently, but that’s not how the Irish roll."
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"A minor problem with the play's structure is that it's difficult to keep track of the characters' secrets and lies as they slip into and out of their own regrettable past and present selves. Yet director Kira Simring has a firm grip on the action and keeps the cast invested in their unlikable characters. Receptive audiences will find the weird language that Molloy has created fascinating and find themselves unwittingly drawn into the nightmarish scene."
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for a previous production
"Grotesque but richly satisfying...Ms. Molloy enters the ring, exploring rage, dissolution, sexual perversity and family history with a bleak and penetrating acuity...The performers, directed by Kira Simring, are uniformly on point, with a grizzled Mr. Lane and a disheveled Ms. Donnelly especially fine...But it is Ms. Molloy’s salty, slangy yet singsong dialogue that most resonates."
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for a previous production
"Molloy puts a spell on words and rearranges them according to the rasp of her own rhythm. They are lyrical and symmetrical and pauses are necessary to soak them in. The excellent cast place their bets on the melody and they are all the more tuneful for it. Director Kira Simring leads from the language and guides lust and menace in the actions and breathing space."
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for a previous production
"As Masher, Terry Donnelly is variously mother Ireland, the infernal Morrigan of Irish myth, the woman you run to and the woman you try to escape...I can’t think of the last time I’ve seen a female character given this much agency in an Irish play...Beautifully written and at all times absorbing because it understands the potency of the themes it has unleashed...Few Irish playwrights have dared to be this ambitious in years. 'Crackskull Row' blazes to life with an anguished and unsettling howl."
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for a previous production
"The dark and disturbing play by Honor Molloy walks in circles through the swamped woods of one’s mind, leaving us without the firm ground of reality until the end...‘Crackskull Row’ intertwines realism and myth, giving a homicide in Dublin the taste of a Greek tragedy. It’s a very heavy and painful story brilliantly worded by Honor Molloy and directed by Kira Simring."
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for a previous production
"This is a particularly unpleasant ghost story the playwright serves up, filled with images of blood and filth and Oedipal obsession that are difficult to shake off upon exiting the theater...Simring and the entire cast have thrown themselves completely into the creep-fest, and it certainly is a polished work...Molloy's play does contain elements of black humor, but she brings a unique blend of hyperrealism and psychological morass that takes 'Crackskull' to a whole new level of ickiness."
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for a previous production
"In the world of theater that tackles taboo topics, 'Crackskull Row' has undeniably added its name to the list...One leaves the theater mystified. To be sure, the show was dark and unsettling. Its themes were off-putting—or disturbing—to say the least, but it certainly is not a 75-minute display of horror. 'Crackskull Row' certainly does give the curious mind a lot to work with."
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for a previous production
"To watch this show, you must suspend wanting immediate gratification or clarity. All will be revealed in time. There is a powerful unsettling scene regarding mother-son incest and unexpected twists and turns. I recommend this play to anyone who appreciates good acting, writing and directing, and who is willing and strong enough to venture into an emotionally challenging place. This show is not for the sensitive or faint of heart but will leave a lasting impression."
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for a previous production
"Director Kira Simring clearly guided the cast in building a tight ensemble. Yet it is the moments when the tension spikes and the reality becomes blurred that the specificity wanes...The story and language of 'Crackskull Row' are exquisite, and the performances from the actors are lovely against a beautifully designed set. However, looking at the piece as a whole, it falls short of becoming triumphant by leaving the audience asking questions that detract from the play rather than enhance it."
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for a previous production
"One gathers that this play was pulled from the bottom of playwright Honor Molloy’s trunk. It shows. This is not to say there isn’t excellent writing here or a compelling story, but rather that intermittent weeding and additional on-subject writing would make the piece immeasurably more successful…Both Donnelly and Lane inhabit their characters...Director Kira Simring does a splendid job of utilizing the set…Outbreaks are mostly kept to plausibility. Intimacy is beautifully depicted."
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for a previous production
"There is much to admire about the production, including some fine performances...'Crackskull Row' often values dramatic potential over clarity, and while some climactic, intimate scenes are intensely dramatic, others fall into a spasmodic mode of meaningless activity. Save for a few rare scenes of sparkling chemistry, the production threatens to come away at the seams...Yet, the production is redeemed and revived by its flowing, narrative core, and the actors who bring it to life."
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for a previous production
“Molloy’s language may occasionally prove as baffling as her plotting; written in a dense Dublin Irish patois filled with all sorts of colorfully imaginative expressions, it privileges atmosphere over clarity, sometimes sounding like Conor McPherson on a wee hours pub crawl...Judging by its vagueness the play might as easily have been called ‘Scratchskull Row;' still, bits and pieces of its dramatic detritus are definitely worth salvaging.”
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for a previous production
"Seldom as spooky as it wants to be…Molloy's playful language is really the star of the show. It verges on twee in its own bleak Irish way, but its musicality is truly enjoyable. Impressively, the four-person cast never flinches, making Molloy's whimsical poetry seem perfectly natural…Still, one gets the sense that the playwright is not as committed to tone as the design team…By the time the climax comes, it is too over-the-top to take seriously."
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for a previous production
"The text is beautifully constructed, but it asks for magic, and Kira Simring's un-beautiful production hasn't got much of a spell to cast. A great deal of the trouble is casting. Donnelly stays pert even in the face of black doom; Lane can't connect to the material at all. Happily, though, the younger pair was made to speak this stuff...Occasionally they have a scene together. You wait the whole show for these moments—only in them does Molloy's witchcraft do its work.
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for a previous production
"Molloy has little interest in providing the characters with the psychological underpinnings that might justify their actions—if, indeed, anything could; instead, she prefers to pile on the shockers. Kira Simring's direction can't supply what the play so sorely lacks; as a result, her blunt, straightforward staging is often borderline risible, especially during the overheated climax…Molloy reaches for Greek tragedy and ends up with something closer to an episode of 'Maury Povich.'"
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See it if
You appreciate original creative talent infused theater with masterful script, direction, staging, & OMG great acting! Enjoy powerful drama!

Don't see it if
You dislike dark drama that challenges traditional moral standards. You dislike shifting of time & reality with paranormal & fantasy plots.

Also
This is a rare gem among the rubbish of overproduced insipid shallow plays. Honor Molloy is blessed with an original creative mind that can write skillfully & create the most melodic word-play verse like dialogues that not only amplifies the plots but pleases the ear & has aesthetic quality to cushion the raw & shocking aspects of a dark tragedy. The top pro thespians vocalized them fluidly with the best dramatic flourish.

The direction is dynamically paced & focused despite many shifting times & reality realms, & actors adding on roles, which under a lesser hand would have convoluted the play. The 1 bleak grayish shabby set with eerie lighting is perfectly matched to the equally dark intense drama-a metaphor for decomposed mind & rotting memory that conjures up demons of guilt, regret, horror, & imagined comfort in the face of irreconcilable desperation.

All 4 actors pour their life into their roles & their fine dimensional acting of human drama elicits sympathy. BRAVO!👍... Read moreRead less

See it if
You like Irish plays. Incest, violence, sadness, fantasy, realism, a little of everything. Super set, wonderful acting, terrific writing.

Don't see it if
If Irish accents turn you off. If you want a light funny sweet play, this is not it.

Also
Plot takes twists and turns. Guaranteed that you will discuss after. Much to figure out. Not an easy play but very worthwhile. Shades of McDonagh and McPherson. A tough intense powerful evening.... Read moreRead less

See it if
you think Irish playwrights can do no wrong - that was my mistake....

Don't see it if
you prefer a little laughter with almost buckets of tears. I visited lovely Ireland this past summer. Apparently, Ire. 66 was 180 degr. off.

Also
It takes rather a bit more - one might say TONS MORE - to shock these days than even 20 years back. And yes, Irish Rep has a particularly "geriatric" audience.... This play packs a wallop - WAY too much dialect & semi-incomprehensible stuff, too - but when one compares it to the still very dark "Lenane," it's as if someone said to this word artist, "See what you can do if you never use anything lighter than dark gray."

See it if
You like dark Irish theatre (though I do, and didn't like the show).

Don't see it if
You're not wearing ten layers of clothing, because they pump arctic air into the theatre.

Also
The climax was not earned. The playwright did not build the characters well enough to justify the actions taken. It seemed indulgent by the playwright, thinking she was doing something edgy. Also, the casting was confusing regarding age and appearance, which made it hard to understand the relationships.... Read moreRead less

See it if
you've seen and appreciated a Beckett play. Dark, compelling and mysterious look at death and family life where the past is never over.

Don't see it if
you cannot hang in there not knowing what is going on until later--and even then it's not fully clear--and thick Irish brogues wont do.

Also
I was blown away by this play. It has stayed with me and popped into my head over and over--always a sign that I've seen something lasting and above the ordinary. I'll be thinking about it for a long time I expect.... Read moreRead less